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Curious about shut down time. Last night I did a 2 hour cook on the big joe and shut the vents at around 730 pm. At 6 this morning before work I opened the top and bottom vent and put my cover on. Just now I put my hand on the grill and it felt hot. Thinking it was direct sunlight on the grill I took the cover off. Temp gauge was at 300. So since 6am the grill lit back up and who knows how hot it got. Cover didn’t melt which was good but I guess after 10 hours the fire never went out and reignited. The slo roller is in there so I didn’t pull it off and check the basket but it was definitely lit. Ruh-roh.

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I routinely store mine in a garage, with the lid up (the next day). I have never seen this with mine. In fact, I can kill the fire closing only the bottom vent. It's become an SOP to kill the fire just below target temp, in long cooks, so the meat gets a long rest.

Given my success killing the fire closing just the bottom vent, I suggest a test at the end of your next cook. It's possible your lower vent is leaking, or that you opened it a smidgen without realizing it. A test will tell you what to do next, besides more cooking!

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@fbov yea, I still do not get how it lit back up. Vents were closed. Also, positive its pretty not leaking due to the times I have closed the vents and closed the lid the air pressure inside comes out through the vents as I can feel the resistance. If that makes sense. I just wont open my vents to put the cover on the next day.

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@fbov yea, I still do not get how it lit back up. Vents were closed. Also, positive its pretty not leaking due to the times I have closed the vents and closed the lid the air pressure inside comes out through the vents as I can feel the resistance. If that makes sense. I just wont open my vents to put the cover on the next day.

No!! You have air leaking. Your coals should snuff out in 1-2 hours or so. After that it's a question of heat bleeding off.

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I agree with it having a leak. Light that sucker up and throw some smoking wood on and let it get to smoking really well then close her up as tight as you can. If there is a leak it will become apparent in a minute or so.

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Everytime, and i mean EVERYTIME I cover up my grill after a shutdown/cool off, I open it up, and stir up the leftover lump and feel for heat with my hand, call me paranoid, but I feel like my grill (and the house I live in which the grill rests next to) is worth that 5 minute check. Plus then when its time to go again, the ash is already knocked off. Just my $0.02.

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This sounds like an air leak to me as well. I had issues with slow shut downs a few years ago and the remedy was the lower vent. I removed the stainless steel plate from the ceramic and put a hi-temp silicone bead under it around the lower vent opening, reinstalled the plate then put a new bead across the top of the plate above the vent opening. Hopefully that description makes sense, but this solved the issue. Following this I could snuff the fire in about 45 minutes and then open the lid to allow it to cool so I could cover it. YMMV.

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I agree with it having a leak. Light that sucker up and throw some smoking wood on and let it get to smoking really well then close her up as tight as you can. If there is a leak it will become apparent in a minute or so.

This is a smart suggestion. Definitely a leak somewhere and this would show it.

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Cooked a brisket, everyone liked it but I think they were being nice. Closed vents and grill stayed at 160 for 6 hours. With the slo roller in you cannot see that coals or fire. So took it apart and sure enough red coals at the front of the grill. Tossed in a couple woods chunks and shut her down.....top vent, bottom vent and all around the lid.

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After shutting all the vents at, say, 235F, I see about 30F drop in the first two hours, then it really starts to fall, down to 140F in the next couple hours. Since you held a temperature for a long period of time, instead of dropping, you had to be burning fuel, which means there's air leak somewhere. It has nothing to do with what's inside the shell.

Heck, I see smoke top and bottom... I don't have smoke coming out of my vents, unless I open the lid. What are we doing differently?